Joint Public Service Negotiating Council, Enugu State Council, yesterday called on the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to release the approved bailout fund to Enugu State government.
The labour union said the request had become necessary to enable the state offset arrears of salaries for non-permanent staff, pension and subventions for government parastatals, boards and agencies. The council equally commended Enugu State Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi for his administration’s consultative approach in preparation of the 2016 budget and efforts to sanitise some errant government agencies in the state in order to reposition them for efficient and effective service delivery.
In a statement jointly signed by its Chairman and Secretary, Comrade Igbokwe Chukwuma Igbokwe and Comrade Theo Obasiani, the council expressed worries that “the prolonged delay in releasing the bailout fund since the announcement of its approval is affecting the socio-economic lives of the workers.” It regretted that the non-release of the fund has brought untold hardship on the workers as “creditors kept harassing, insulting and threatening them on grounds that they have been paid.”
According to the statement, “the council strongly condemns the non-release of the fund to Enugu State government and calls for immediate release of the fund to the state to enable her discharge its statutory responsibilities to workers. “The continuous devaluation of the naira, galloping inflation, which weakened the purchasing power of the national currency has made non-release of the fund counterproductive.”
On sanitisation efforts, the council charged the state government to apply all necessary measures “to recover every kobo stolen from public treasury and prosecute the culprits,” assuring government of workers’ of maximum support towards the recovery exercise.
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